Combined set comprising a locking member and at least two building panels

ABSTRACT

A combined set comprising at least one locking member and at least a first and second building panel, said locking member being provided for interconnecting said first and second building panel, each of said building panels having a first groove provided for receiving a first lip of said locking member and a second groove provided for receiving a second lip of said locking member, each building panel being provided with a continuous rebated groove penetrating into a first edge and with a protrusion extending lengthwise along a second edge opposite to said first edge, in such a manner that said protrusion of one of the building panels fits into the rebated groove of the other building panel, said locking member being provided to be removably clamped into said first and second groove.

[0001] The present invention relates to a combined set, comprising atleast one locking member and at least a first and second building panel,in particular a floor panel, said locking member being provided forinterconnecting said first and second building panel, each of saidbuilding panels having a first groove provided for receiving a first lipof said locking member and a second groove provided for receiving asecond lip of said locking member, each building panel is provided witha continuous rebated groove penetrating into a first edge and with aprotrusion extending lengthwise along a second edge opposite to saidfirst edge, in such a manner that said protrusion of one of the buildingpanels fits into the rebated groove of the other building panel, saidlocking member being provided for interconnecting said first and secondbuilding panel and for being removably clamped into said first andsecond groove.

[0002] Such a combined set is known from the Japanese patent abstract07229276. In the known combined set, the first and the second buildingpanel are assembled by first introducing the protrusion of one of thebuilding panels into the continuous rebated groove of the other panel.Once assembled both building panels are locked together by using thelocking member which is applied on a bottom side of the building panels.

[0003] A drawback of the known combined set is that the locking memberis provided with rather large upstanding edges which are required toobtain a suitable locking. Consequently, the upstanding edges penetraterather deeply into the material of which the building panels are made.For thin building panels, i.e. having a thickness of 1 cm or less, theknown locking member is thus not appropriate. Moreover, demounting ofassembled building panels needs a considerable effort to overcome theclamping of the locking member.

[0004] It is an object of the invention to realize a combined setwherein the locking member is also suitable for thin building panels andwherein demounting of assembled building panels is easier withoutaffecting the mounting quality.

[0005] A combined set according to the present invention is thereforcharacterized in that each locking member further comprises a hook andsaid rebated groove comprises a further recess applied in a base thereoffor receiving said hook.

[0006] The hook and the further recess enable a reliable clamping of thelocking member to the building panel since the hook engages the furtherrecess. The dimension of the hook can be kept low as the cooperation ofhook and recess takes care of the locking.

[0007] A first preferred embodiment of a combined set according to theinvention is characterized in that said hook is made by cutting out andbending a part of a bottom plane of said locking member. An easymanufacturing of the hook is thus obtained.

[0008] A second preferred embodiment of a combined set according to thepresent invention is characterized in that at least one front side ofthe rebated groove is bevelled. The bevelled front side simplifies theintroduction of the protrusion into the rebated groove.

[0009] A third preferred embodiment of a combined set according to thepresent invention is characterized in that said second groove and abackside of said protrusion are separated by a barrier made within thematerial of the building panel. The barrier facilitates the mounting oftwo building panels into each other and forms an upstanding wall of thesecond groove.

[0010] Preferably, a front side of said barrier and said second lip arebevelled. This facilitates the shifting operation of the protrusion intothe rebated groove as well as the introduction of the second lip intothe second groove.

[0011] Preferably, the second lip forms an angle a with a bottom planeof said locking member and wherein 90°≦α≦120°. This facilitates on theone hand the bending of the locking member upon mounting two buildingpanels into each other, and on the other hand leads to a suitableclamping.

[0012] A fourth preferred embodiment of a combined set according to thepresent invention is characterized in that a recess is applied in saidsecond lateral edge, starting from said protrusion and extending towardsan upper face of said building panel. A dust collector is formed in sucha manner which enables the evacuation of dust or other small particleswhich would stick to the lateral edge and could perturb a tight fittingof two adjacent building panels.

[0013] The invention will now be described in more details withreference to the annexed drawings showing a preferred embodiment of acombined set according to the invention. In the drawings:

[0014]FIG. 1a) shows an overall view of two building panels fittedtogether;

[0015]FIG. 1b) shows an overall view of two building panels alreadyfitted together and a third one being added to them;

[0016]FIG. 2 shows the locking member attached to one of the buildingpanels;

[0017]FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of a locking member;

[0018]FIG. 4 illustrates how a first building panel is engaged into asecond one;

[0019]FIG. 5 and 6 show each time the different steps of connecting twobuilding panels to each other.

[0020] In the drawings, a same reference sign has been assigned to asame or analogous element.

[0021] The combined set, such as illustrated in FIG. 1, comprises atleast one locking member 3 and at least a first 1 and a second 2building panel. The building panels are in particular formed by floorpanels. Although the present invention is not limited to floor panelsand can also be used as wall or ceiling panels. The panels are forexample made of wood, High Density or Low Density Board or syntheticmaterial.

[0022] The first panel 1, is attached to the second panel 2 by means ofa protrusion 4 extending lenghtwise along a second lateral edge of panel2. The protrusion 4 fits into a continuous rebated groove 5 penetratinginto a first lateral edge of the first building panel 2. The lockingmember 3 is removably clamped to both building panels. To this purposethe locking member comprises a first lip 6, which upon mounting, isinserted into a first groove 13 situated at a bottom side of thebuilding panel. A second lip 7, 8 of the locking member is inserted intoa second groove 17 also situated at a bottom side of the building panel.

[0023] As illustrated in more details in the FIGS. 2 and 3, the lockingmember 3, preferably made of stainless steel or plastic, comprises ahook 9 which makes a substantially right angle with a bottom plane ofthe locking member. The hook 9 is preferably situated in a central partof the locking member and preferably made by cutout and bending a partof the material of the bottom plane. For a building panel with athickness d of for example 0,6<d<1,2 cm, the hook has an opening f of1<f<4 mm. In such a manner, the dimensions of the hook are limited andthe hook does not penetrate too deeply into the material of which thebuilding panel is made.

[0024] A cutout 11, preferably U-shaped, is further applied in thebottom plane of the locking member in order to make the second lip 7, 8resilient. The cutout preferably ends in two circular perforations 21and 22. A further perforation 10 is applied in the bottom plane andprovided to receive a nail, screw or the like (22) see FIGS. 5 and 6, inorder to fix the locking member to the surface on which the buildingpanel will be applied. The further perforation 10 is preferably appliedin front of the hook 9 in order to not disturb the resilient propertiesof the locking member.

[0025] The first lip 6, preferably extends perpendicular with respect tothe bottom plane of the locking member. Although other alternatives suchas for example L-shaped are also possible. The second lip, which issituated at the opposite side of the one where the first lip issituated, comprises a first inclined rising border 8 followed by asecond inclined descending border 7. The angle α of the rising border,extending between the bottom plane and the first border, is situatedbetween 90 and 120°. The angle β of the descending border, extendingbetween the first and second border, is approximately 45°. The first andsecond border can either extend over the whole length of the lockingmember, as illustrated, or only over a part thereof and be formed by twoseparate parts. The cutouts 11, the angles α and β and the material ofwhich the locking member is made, determine the resilient propertiesthereof. The transition between first and second border of the secondlip is preferably rounded, in order to avoid sharp angles which couldinjure.

[0026] Upon mounting the locking member to a building panel, the hook 9is first engaged into the rebated groove 5 (see also FIGS. 5 and 6a), inorder to be removably fixed to the panel. To this purpose, the rebatedgroove comprises a recess 24 applied in a base of the groove 5, in orderto not obstruct the insertion of the protrusion 4 and to form a supportfor the latter when the hook is applied thereon. Once the hook isapplied to the recess 24, the hook is pivoted (see FIGS. 5 and 6 a)counterclockwise, in order to engage the first lip 6 into the firstgroove 13. Since the first lip is perpendicular with respect to thebottom plane of the locking member, the first groove preferably also hasa perpendicular wall with respect to the bottom of the building panel.In such a manner, the first lip 6 mates correctly with the first groove,leading to a reliable connection. That the opposite wall of the firstgroove is inclined, is merely due to the milling operation performed toapply the first groove.

[0027] As can be seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rebated groove 5 extendscontinuously over the whole length of a first lateral edge of thebuilding panel. The rebated groove 5 penetrates over a depth of forexample 5 to 8 mm into the material of the building panel and issituated substantially in the middle of the first edge. The thickness ofthe rebated groove 5 corresponds with the one of the protrusion 4, inorder to mate with each other.

[0028] The front side of the rebated groove, situated opposite to theone where the recess 24 is situated, is bevelled, and so is a frontedge, preferably the one situated on the upper side of the protrusion 4.The bevelled front side and the bevelled edge facilitate the initialengagement of the protrusion into the rebated groove. The bevelled frontside of the rebated groove, together with a recess 25 applied on asecond lateral edge of the building panel, form a cavity 20 when firstand second panel are connected to each other. The recess 25 starts fromthe end of the protrusion into the material of the building panel andextends towards an upper face of the building panel. The cavity 20 actsas a dust collector for dust or other particles that would remain on thelateral edges of the building panels. When mounting the building panels,those dust particles can fall into the cavity 20 and will thus notobstruct a close fitting of the first and second building panel.

[0029] A barrier 19 applied on the bottom side of the building panel andextending preferably over the whole length of the building panel,separates the second groove 17 from the backside of the protrusion. Thebarrier is obtained by a milling operation on the material of which thebuilding panel is made. By milling material away, in order to form thesecond groove 17 and the protrusion 4, the barrier 19 is obtained. Thebarrier has a bevelled front side 16 that mates with the inclination ofthe second border 7 and an inclined back side 18 that mates with theinclination of the first border 8 of the second lip. The front side 16of the barrier is offset with respect to the front side of the secondedge situated above the protrusion 4, in order to create sufficientspace to house the hook 9 when the two building panels are mounted.

[0030] In order to insert the protrusion 4 of a first building panel 1into the rebated groove 5 of a second 2 building panel, once the lockingelement is applied, the bevelled front edge of the protrusion, situatedat an upper side thereof, is brought into contact with the bevelledupper front side of the rebated groove. The first building panel can beinserted either by rotation as shown in FIG. 5, or horizontally as shownin FIG. 6.

[0031] Upon initial engagement of the protrusion into the rebatedgroove, the front side 16 of barrier 19 slides over the inclined secondborder 7 (FIGS. 5 and 6b). Since the latter mates, the insertion can beeasily realized. Upon further engagement, the protrusion slides into therebated groove and the second lip slides along barrier 19 in such amanner that the second border reaches the second groove 17 (FIGS. 5 and6c). The resilient properties of the locking member 3 enable the bendingaway of the second lip, due to the pressure applied by the firstbuilding panel during mounting. Finally, the first border 8 of thesecond lip will reach the second groove 17. The resilient properties ofthe locking member will now cause the second lip to return to its restposition, locking in such a manner the second lip into the second grooveby applying a pressure against the back side 18 of the barrier 19. Thispressure will cause both building panels to closely fit together.

[0032] As no glue, neither a permanent mounting of the locking member tothe building panels is applied, the panels can be easily dismounted bypulling away one of the building panels. The resilient properties of thelocking member will cause the second lip to bend away so that thebarrier 19 can slide over the first border 8, realizing in such a mannerthe protrusion 4 from the rebated groove.

[0033] In the drawings only the rebated groove and protrusion on lateraledges are shown. The transversal edge can however also be provided witha respective rebated groove and protrusion, in such a manner that atdiagonally opposed corners of a same panel, the rebated groove of alateral edge joins the one of the transversal edge and the protrusion ofthe transversal edge joins the one of the lateral edge.

[0034] Instead of using the locking member, it is also possible to glueboth building panels to each other or to use nails or screws, which areapplied into the surface onto which the building panels are applied.When using glue, the latter is applied into the rebated groove andeventually on the surface. The use of the locking member offers howeverthe advantage that the building panels are removably mounted, which isnot the case when they are glued together.

1. A combined set comprising at least one locking member and at least afirst and second building panel, in particular a floor panel, each ofsaid building panels having a first groove provided for receiving afirst lip of said locking member and a second groove provided forreceiving a second lip of said locking member, each building panel isprovided with a continuous rebated groove penetrating into a first edgeand with a protrusion extending lengthwise along a second edge oppositeto said first edge, in such a manner that said protrusion of one of thebuilding panels fits into the rebated groove of the other buildingpanel, said locking member being provided for interconnecting said firstand second building panel and for being removably clamped into saidfirst and second groove, said locking member further comprises a hookand said rebated groove comprises a further recess applied in a basethereof for receiving said hook.
 2. A combined set as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hook is made by cutting out and bending a part of abottom plane of said locking member.
 3. A combined set as claimed inclaim 1 , wherein said hook makes a substantially right angle with abottom plane of said locking member.
 4. A combined set as claimed inclaim 1 wherein at least one front side of the rebated groove isbevelled.
 5. A combined set as claimed in claim 4 , wherein a front edgeof said protrusion is bevelled.
 6. A combined set as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second groove and a backside of said protrusion areseparated by a barrier made within the material of the building panel.7. A combined set as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a front side of saidbarrier and said second lip are bevelled.
 8. A combined set as claimedin claim 6 or 7 , wherein the second lip forms an angle α with a bottomplane of said locking member and wherein 90°≦α≦120°.
 9. A combined setas claimed in claim 1 wherein a recess is applied in said second lateraledge starting from said protrusion and extending towards an upper faceof said building panel.
 10. A locking member as part of a combined setas claimed in claim 1 .